The Center for Disease Control recommends that babies get their first vaccination, specifically for Hepatitis B, at birth.

Grady has recently been in the news involving a student getting the mumps. There have only been 1,885 cases of mumps, one of the many contagious diseases that can be prevented with a simple vaccine, in the United States. In order to protect against these contagious diseases, everyone should be vaccinated.

Students are not to blame for the diseases they may contract, but their parents or guardians are. Vaccines not only protect whoever receives them from diseases, but they also protect the general population from harmful epidemics.

Back in 2014, a measles outbreak in Disney World amounted to 42 cases. Measles can easily be prevented with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, which has a 97% success rate with two doses, and 91.1% of children aged 19-35 months have received it.

Critics of vaccination, called “anti-vaxxers”, argue that they cause autism, among other health problems. However, the Center for Disease Control found no link between vaccines and autism.

As vaccines become more widespread, so do the diseases that they are combatting. Therefore, you should get vaccines however often as your doctor advises you to.

Though some consider vaccines to be morally wrong, the value of vaccines shows the value of human life. Diseases that can be prevented with vaccines mainly spread from person to person. This means that our role as a member of society is to ensure both our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others by getting vaccinated.

Owner of the makeup brand “Kat Von D Beauty”, Katherine von Drachenberg, received backlash after pledging to raise her unborn child “vax free” in a Twitter post on June 12th. Critics called for a boycott of her brand, another example of the divisiveness of this issue.

There is no federal law requiring vaccination, but all 50 states require children to be vaccinated for several different diseases in order for them to go to public school. However, most states allow children to be exempted from vaccines for religious and personal beliefs.

The United States is “for the people, by the people”. If we as a country want to fully ensure the health of Americans, vaccines should be required and subsidized by the government.

According to the CDC, child immunization rates have been increasing since 2001. Along with this increase in immunization rates comes a declining infant mortality rate. Without vaccines, someone can easily contract medieval diseases such as dysentery and whooping cough. They allow us to move forward in time, instead of backward.

As the United States continues to develop so will our medical technology, therefore, we will have the cures needed for future epidemics. Americans need to make use of these treatments and ensure that they will not contract treatable diseases.

To not only protect ourselves but others from preventable diseases, there needs to be a nationwide push for vaccinations. For the next generation of parents, vaccinations should be your main priority to keep the safety of your children and others.